Revolving display rack



June 4, 1963 T. M. BLEED 3,092,258

a REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Filed April 26, 1961 :5 Sheets-Sheet 1 aoouuoTheodore L- @leed. 4 my? W UH'X-I CA TTORPOELYJ June 4; 1963 T. M. BLEED3,092,253

REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Filed April 26, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I IheQdQr-e Bleed 3 a, 4 0.41 (9% 36 57 cfl'rrohrozlw June 4, 1963 FiledApril 26, 1961 T. M. BLEED 3,092,258

REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 zgQ' 28 m Theodcve 5! eecL,

United States Patent Ofifice 3,092,258 Patented June 4, 1953 3,092,258REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK Theodore M. Bleed, Rockford, Ill., assignor toCommercial Wire Products Company, Rockford, 11]., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Apr. 26, 1961, Ser. No. 105,695 8 Claims. (Cl. 211-163)This invention relates to a rack adapted to stand on the floor or asales counter and having a series of article supporting panels which aredisposed in angularly spaced relation and brought into view by revolvingthe rack about an upright axis.

The primary object is to provide a rack of the above character in whichthe display panels are detachable from the rack frame which iscollapsible into a relatively flat compact unit to facilitate low costshipment of the rack to its ultimate point of use.

Another object is to achieve lightness and cheapness of the over-allconstruction by forming the collapsible frame of the rack as a series ofparts adapted to be moved relative to each other into a compact packagebut rigidly joined by the display panels into a sturdy rotatable unit.

Still another object is to join the frame elements permanently togetherin a novel manner which permits of assembly at the point of use simplyby moving the parts of the frame relative to each other .and insertingthe panels by endwise sliding into channels formed on the frame partsand extending longitudinally of the rotational axis of the rack.

A further object is to arrange the parts of the frame and the panels ina novel manner so that both sides of the panels may be used for displaypurposes.

Still another object is to adapt outer edges of the frame wings for useas handles in revolving the rack.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the improveddisplay rack.

FIG. 2 is a plan View.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective View of part of the rack frame withone of the display panels partially inserted.

FIG. 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 5 with the rackframe collapsed.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are views similar to FIGS. 1 and 4 showing a modified formof the rack.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 181tl of FIG. 8.

In both of the illustrated forms of the improved rack, the displaypanels comprise rigid rectangular sheets Ill such as so-called Pegboardsangularly spaced around and facing outwardly from a frame 11 comprisinga series of wings 12 and 12 radiating from and supported by a centralhub 13 which is mounted on a base 14 to turn about an upright axis 15.By swinging the wings against each other as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9, theframe 11 maybe collapsed into a compact unit for low cost storage orshipment to the point of ultunate use of the rack. Alternatively, thewings 12 may be swung apart and rigidly joined by the panels 10 into arigid truss-like structure (FIG. 2) adapted to be journaled on a shaft16 upstanding from the base 14. Where, as here, the panels areperforated by holes 17, the articles to be displayed may be suspendedfrom books 18 inserted in selected ones of the holes.

Herein the base 14, which may be dismantled and thus packaged compactly,comprises tubes 19 having upper end portions angularly spaced around anddetachaoly clamped by cross bolts 20 to the lower end of the shaft 16.Below the shaft, the tubes are bent outwardly and flare downwardly toform legs 19 adapted to rest on the floor and thus support the shaft inan upright position.

In accordance with the present invention, the display panels 10 areutilized to perform the additional function of rigidly joining the wings12 and 12 during service use of the rack thus enabling these Wings to beformed of wire. Thus, the collapsible frame is light in weight and canbe manufactured at low cost without sacrificing overall rigidity andsturdiness in supporting the articles which may be mounted on thediflerent panels with their weights substantially unbalanced relative tothe shaft. Preferably but not necessarily, the wings 12 are made rigidwith the hub 13 of the collapsible frame and project radially fromdiametrically opposite sides of the hub. The other wings 12* arefulcrumed on the hub midway between the wings 12 so as to be swingableinto substantial parallelism with the latter .and lie closely adjacentthe same as shown in FIG. 4 when the panel supporting frame iscollapsed.

To minimize manufacturing costs, the frame wings 12 and '12 areessentially of the same construction and, in the present instance, eachcomprises two pieces 21 and 21' of wires bent into right angular U-shapewith the two Us disposed in a common plane and with all four of theirlegs 23 to 26 disposed parallel to each other, as shown in FIGS. 1 and5, and rigidly joined together by bars 27 and 28. As shown in FIG. 4these bars are disposed on opposite sides of the U and welded orotherwise secured rigidly to the legs at points spaced inwardly from theouter or closed ends of the Us.

'In both forms of the rack shown herein, the central hub 13 is formed bythree vertically spaced and relatively fiat rings or washers 13 thelower two of which are spaced along and journaled on the shaft 16 asshown in FIG. 6. Preferably, the inner ends of the legs 23, 24 and 26 ofthe frame wings 12 he in a common diametrical plane and are welded at 29against one side of the washers thus being made rigid with the latterand with each other while projecting in opposite directions from the hubof the collapsible frame.

The corresponding legs on the Us of the other frame Wings 12 areconnected pivotally to the washers 13 by bending the ends of these legsat right angles as indicated at 39 and projecting these ends throughholes punched in the washers and angularly spaced about midway betweenthe rigid wings 12. In spite of this difference in the construction ofthe ends, these legs are, for simplicity of disclosure, identified bythe same references 23, 24 and 26. The legs 26 are disposed below thelower washer (FIGS. 5 and 6) and rest on washers 31 which bear againstthe upper ends of the tubes 19 which form the legs of the base. Thewashers 31 thus constitute a shoulder for supporting the rotatable frameof the rack while at the same time supporting the pivoted Wings 12 ofthe frame. Since the upper and lower Us of each wing are joined rigidlytogether by the bars 27 and 28, it is unnecessary to join the short legs25 to any of the washers 13 To face the panels 10 outwardly and thusprovide the desired display space, each panel is extended across theangle included between two of the adjacent frame wings 12 and 12 andopposite vertical side edges thereof are secured detachably to therespective wings. Herein, this is accomplished by making the verticalframe bars 27 and 28 in the form of channels opening toward each otherand spaced apart, when the wings are disposed in right angular relation(FIGS. 1, 2 and 8), to receive and enclose the edges of the panel as thelatter is inserted endwise into and between the flanges of the coactingchannels. In the preferred form of rack shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the U-shaped wires forming the Wings-12 and 12 are bent intermediate theirends as indicated at 32 so as to dispose the outer end portions of onewing at right angles to the outer end portion of the adjacent wing. Thispermits the panel 19 joining such wings to lie against the outer endportion of the other wing as best shown in FIG. 2. For this purpose, thechannel bars 27 are located near the outer ends of the wings and theflanges of these bars parallel these Wings.

difierent wings with the free flange of such bars disposed parallel tothe flanges of thecoacting bar 27. Each pair of channels 27 and 28 thusdefines a vertical guideway slightly wider than the panels 10 andadapted to receive the panel by endwise insertion of one end of thepanel followed by downward sliding of the panel as illustrated in FIG.3. Such movement is limited by suitable stops 33 which support thepanels at their lower ends. Herein, the stops 'are formed by curvedpieces of wire (see FIGS. 4 and 5) welded to the lower end of the framewings 12 and 12*.

With all four of the panels inserted and snugly received in the channels27 and 28 throughout the full lengths of the panels, it will be apparentthat the latter form rigid connections joining the adjacent frame wingsand uniting the parts of the collapsible wire frame into a rigid andsturdy unit which is supported by the washers 31 and is rotatable aboutthe shaft 16. In the assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one entire sidesurface of each panel faces outwardly and is available for supportingarticles to be displayed. At the same time, about onehalf of the backside of the adjacent panel is exposed thus providing an additional spaceas best shown in FIG. 1.

Where such additional display space is not required, the channels 27 and28 may be spaced equidistantly from the center axis as shown in FIGS. 8to 10, each channel being formed by flanges which are disposed at acuteincluded angles the same as in the case of the channels 28 in thepreferred construction as shown in FIG. 4. As before and for simplicityof disclosure, the legs of the Wings 12 and 12 are indicated by the samenumerals as the corresponding legs in FIG. 1 even though such legs arestraight and not bent as at 32 in FIG. 1. All of the channels, on thewings 1'2 and 12? are of the same crosssection as the channels 28 inFIG. 1 and therefore bear this numeral. With the connecting channel barsthus constructed, the four panels will be arranged in the form of asquare in the final assembly of the display rack and spacedequidistantly from the center axis 15 as shown in FIG. 8. In thisconstruction, the rigidity of the rack may be increased if desired byextending the shaft 16 upwardly into the hole in the upper washer 13 asshown in FIG. 8 and by reinforcing the wings 12 and 12* by wires 36paralleling the shaft 16 and disposed between the shaft and the channelbars 27, 28, these bars being welded to the horizontal legs of theU-shaped frame wires 21.

In another of its aspects, the invention contemplates using the uprightclosed ends of at least one of the U- shaped wires of each frame wing asa handle which may be grasped conveniently by a prospective customer andused to turn the rack and thereby bring articles on the other panelsinto view. For this purpose, the wings 12 and 12 are made wider than thepanels 10 so that the closed ends of the Us will be spaced outwardlybeyond the outeredge of the panels, thus leaving spacesinto which thecustomer may insert his fingers to grasp the handle.

For delivering the rack at minimum cost to its ultimate point of use, itis shipped with the wire frame collapsed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9 andthe base 14 is knocked down by removal of the bolts 20. Such collapsingof the frame is accomplished simply by swinging the Wings 12 toward andsubstantially into parallelism with respect g The other connecting bars28 are spaced inwardly and located at the bends *32 of the 45 to thewings 12 which, in the present instance, remain at all times fixed tothe hub 13. In this collapsed condition, all of the parts of the wingsare permanently joined together so that at the point of ultimate use, itis only necessary to attach the base legs 19 to the shaft 16, swing thewings 12" away from the wings 12, and finally insert the panels 10 andslide the same downwardly to the bottoms of their respective guideways.The wings 12 and 12 thus become locked together into a rigid unit whichis journaled on the shaft 16 in widely spaced bearings and thus adaptedto revolve about the upright axis and also to sustain the weight of thearticles attached to the diiferent panels. At the same time, all of theparts of the rack frame are formed from wire or tubing. The

over-all weight. of the rack and its cost of manufacture are thus heldat a minimum while at the same time providing the sturdy constructionrequired for properly displaying many different kinds of articles.

I claim as my invention:

1. A revolving display rack having, in combination, a pair .of generallyrectangular open wire frames disposed in upright crossed relation toprovide four wings projecting outwardly but movable relative to eachother so as to be collapsible into a relatively flat package, an uprightshaft rotatably supporting said frames for turning about an axissubstantially coincident with the line of crossing of the frames, saidWings being bent intermediate their vertical edges to dispose the innermarginal portions of the wings substantially radially and the outermarginal portions of adjacent wings substantially perpendicular to eachother, four pairs of parallel channels with the channels of each pairsecured to the angularly spaced faces of the adjacent ones of said wingswith the grooves of the two channels opening toward each other in acommon plane and with one bar of each pair disposed at the bend in itssupporting wing, and four rigid display panels with opposite edges ofeach panel seated in the grooves of one pair of said channels andjoining the ad jacent frame wings rigidly together.

2. A revolving display rack having, in combination, a base, a hubjournaled on said base to turn about an upright axis, a plurality ofgenerally rectangular wings each comprising a plurality of verticallyspaced horizontal arms radiating outwardly from said hub, means couplingthe inner ends of said arms to said hub for relative movement of saidwings between a collapsed position and an expanded position in which thewings are angularly spaced apart around said axis, said wings when insaid collapsed position forming a relatively flat package with adjacentones of the wings lying face to face and adjacent each other, each ofsaid wings including two upright bars paralleling and spaced outwardlyfrom said axis and extending across and rigidly secured to the arms ofthe wing on opposite faces thereof so as to form with said arms a rigidopen frame, a rigid rectangular display panel between each pair ofadjacent wings spaced outwardly from said axis with the upright marginsof the panel lying against the barson the adjacent faces of such wingsin said angularly expanded position, and means securing the edges ofsaid panels to said bars tolock the wings and panels together and formsaid hub, said wings and said panels into a rigid assembly rotatableabout said axis with each panel presenting a display surface facingoutwardly.

3. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which said panelsecuring means comprises flanges integral with said bars and bent aroundthe adjacent edges of said panels to form channels in which oppositeedges of each panel are seated.

4. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which the inner endof at least one set of said horizontal arms is secured rigidly to saidhub while an adjacent one of said wings is pivoted on said hub to swingabout an axis spaced angularly around the hub from the fixed wing andswingable about such axis toward a collapsed position adjacent the fixedwing.

5. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which there arefour of said Wings and the inner ends of horizontal arms of two of thewings are secured rigidly to said hub with such wings projecting fromdiametrically opposite sides of the hub, the inner ends of the other ofsaid wings being pivoted on said hub to swing about axes disposedsubstantially equidistantly between the fixed wings.

6. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which two of thevertically spaced arms of at least certain of said wings are the legs ofa piece of a U with the closed end thereof spaced outwardly beyond saidupright bars and constitutes a handle for facilitating turning of therack about the hub axis.

7. A revolving display rack as defined in claim 2 in which there arefour of said Wings each bent intermediate its vertical side edges todispose the outer edge portion of one wing perpendicular to the outeredge portion of the adjacent wing and said two bars on one side of eachof said wings are disposed at the bends ofi said wings while the otherbars are near the outer edges of the wings.

8. A revolving display rack adapted for collapse into a relatively flatpackage for shipment, said rack having, in combination, a base, a hubjournaled on said base to turn about an upright axis, four generallyrectangular and fiat upright display panels spaced outwardly from andangularly spaced around said axis with one vertical edge of each paneldisposed perpendicular to and substantially abutting the adjacent panelintermediate the edges of the latter to form therewith a T, and meansdetachably coupling two edges of each of said panels to said hub wherebyto lock the four panels rigidly together, each of said panels havingholes extending therethrough and distributed over areas thereof forattachment of article support devices over such areas of one side ofeach panel and over the outer edge portion of the opposite side of thepanel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS695,964 Taggart Mar. 25, 1902 1,569,365 Goldberg Jan. 12, 1926 1,801,453Patterson Apr. 21, 1931 2,194,238 Weaver Mar. 19, 1940 2,621,429 TeichDec. 16, 1952 2,868,386 Seyforth Jan. 13, 1959 2,923,417 Sonksen Feb. 2,1960 2,950,155 Schick Aug. 23, 1960

1. A REVOLVING DISPLAY RACK HAVING, IN COMBINATION, A PAIR OF GENERALLYRECTANGULAR OPEN WIRE FRAMES DISPOSED IN UPRIGHT CROSSED RELATION TOPROVIDE FOUR WINGS PROJECTING OUTWARDLY BUT MOVABLE RELATIVE TO EACHOTHER SO AS TO BE COLLAPSIBLE INTO A RELATIVELY FLAT PACKAGE, AN UPRIGHTSHAFT ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID FRAMES FOR TURNING ABOUT AN AXISSUBSTANTIALLY COINCIDENT WITH THE LINE OF CROSSING OF THE FRAMES, SAIDWINGS BEING BENT INTERMEDIATE THEIR VERTICAL EDGES TO DISPOSE THE INNERMARGINAL PORTIONS OF THE WINGS SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY AND THE OUTERMARGINAL PORTIONS OF ADJACENT WINGS SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO EACHOTHER, FOUR PAIRS OF PARALLEL CHANNELS WITH THE CHANNELS OF EACH PAIRSECURED TO THE ANGULARLY SPACED FACES OF THE ADJACENT ONES OF SAID WINGSWITH THE GROOVES OF THE TWO CHANNELS OPENING TOWARD EACH OTHER IN ACOMMON PLANE AND WITH ONE BAR OF EACH PAIR DISPOSED AT THE BEND IN ITSSUPPORTING WING, AND FOUR RIGID DISPLAY PANELS WITH OPPOSITE EDGES OFEACH PANEL SEATED IN THE GROOVES OF ONE PAIR OF SAID CHANNELS ANDJOINING THE ADJACENT FRAME WINGS RIGIDLY TOGETHER.